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November

You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition
Do you remember Olive Morris?
With performance by Calypso troubadour Alexander D. Great
Saturday 21 November 2009, 2-7 PM
Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH
Underground: Oval / Vauxhall
Gasworks has full wheelchair access

Exhibition dates: 21 November 2009-24 January 2010 (closed over Christmas holiday)
Opening times: Wed-Sun 12-6pm or by appointment
For more information on the exhibition visit Gasworks website

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive programme of events organised by the Remembering Olive Collective and a programme of film screenings. See attachements for further information and details on the events and screenings listed below:

Events and film screenings

Click here to download a printable version of the EVENTS programme

Click here to download a printable version of the FILM programme

EVENTS Entry fee: £1 donation with a Olive Morris badge

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER, 7-8.30PM
The Empty Gallery Interviews
A live conversation piece in which art writers Claire Nichols and Altair Roelants talk to artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre and other ROC members about the upcoming exhibition Do you remember Olive Morris?

THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER, 7-9PM
Artist Talk
Sonia Boyce talks about her project Devotional – a celebration of Black female singers in British entertainment – and her involvement in the Remembering Olive Collective.

SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER 2-5PM
Documenting Migration
A workshop looking at the ways in which records and documents of migration are kept and used by official bodies and by migrants themselves, and their importance in framing public opinion and policy.

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER
Remembering Olive Bicycle Tour, 12PM
Meeting at 11:45am in front of Olive Morris House, 18 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RL.
Visiting some of the places where Olive did things, and learning more about her, and Brixton’s history. The bike tour will end at Gasworks in time for the 2pm event.

Housing Matters, 2-5PM
This event investigates how housing has changed since her times, and what forms of struggle have been adopted. We will hear from some of the people who have been involved in those struggles, with a Q&A session with groups who provide advice to tenants, squatters and the homeless, including the Latin American Housing Coop and the Squatters Advisory Service.

SATURDAY 9 JANUARY, 2-5PM
Self-Education: On Alternative Strategies of Education
In Olive Morris’ Brixton, self-education initiatives challenged the failings of standard comprehensive education for Black children. Members of ROC will be joined by a diverse group of educators to explore and exchange different approaches towards learning, across sectors and communities. This open, round table discussion will be initiated by a film screening.

THURSDAY 14 JANUARY, 7-9PM
The Heart of the Race: Oral Histories of the Black Women’s Movement
The Heart of the Race’s author Stella Dadzie, Kelly Foster and Mia Morris from the Black Cultural Archives introduce this year-long oral history project documenting the activism of Black women in the UK.

SATURDAY 16 JANUARY, 2-5PM
Financing the Revolution
How does one fund work of a radical nature? What happens to community initiatives when public and charitable funding dries up, or imposes their own agenda? With Onyekachi Wambu (AFFORD) on fundraising to support indigenous economic development in Africa, Sandra Hurst on financial literacy for Black liberation, and Carolyn on low-budget/zero-budget organising.
SATURDAY 23 JANUARY, 2-5PM:
Closing event of the exhibition and launch of the publication Do you remember Olive Morris?

FILM PROGRAMME

SUNDAY SCREENINGS

Sunday 22 November, 4PM
Pressure (1975), dir. Horace Ové, 120 min.

Sunday 29 November, 4PM
Babylon (1980), dir. Franco Rosso, 91 min.

Sunday 6 December, 4PM – Double Bill
Baldwin’s Nigger (1969), dir. Horace Ové, 48 min.
Dread, Beat an’ Blood (1979), dir. Franco Rosso, 45 min.

Sunday 13 December, 4PM
Born in Flames (1983), dir. Lizzie Borden, 90 min

Sunday 10 January, 4PM – Double Bill
From You Were Black, You Were Out (2008), dir. Colin Prescod, 38 min.
Blood Ah Goh Run (1980), dir. Imruh Caesar and Menelik Shabbazz, 20 min.

Sunday 17 January, 4PM
Pray the Devil Back to Hell (2008), dir. Gini Ritcker, 72 min.

Sunday 23 January, 4PM – Triple Bill
On Becoming An Activist (1999), Angela Davis, 3:36 min (audio)
David Gilbert: A Lifetime of Struggle (2002), dir. Claude Marks and Lisa Rudman, 30 min.
We Were Born to Survive (1995), dir. Paul Okojie, 29 min.

OTHER SCREENINGS

Saturday 5 December, 5PM (after the ‘Documenting Migration’ event from 2-5pm)
Signs of Empire (1984), dir. Black Audio Film Collective, 44 min.

Thursday 10 December, 4PM – Double Bill
Grove Roots (2009), dir. Rae Evelyn, Kaye-Ann Adjei, Dontony Gill-Nasady, Moktar Alatas, Zakiya Amlak, Clinton Plummer-Nelson, Bankole Adegbulugbe, Jodechi Cumberbatch, 45 min.
Sam the Wheels (2008) dir. Clovis Salmon, various durations

Thursday 7 January, 4PM – Repeat screening
Pray the Devil Back to Hell (2008), dir. Gini Ritcker, 72 min.

FILMS ON DEMAND
If you want to come in individually or as a group and watch films outside of screening times, you can organise your own screening at Gasworks with the view-on-demand film library. A member of staff will provide you with technical support and access to a list of films including Dread, Beat an’ Blood, From You Were Black, You Were Out and Grove Roots, as well a selection of YouTube clips.

For more information and to arrange a suitable time if you are coming with a group, please contact: info@gasworks.org.uk Tel: 020 7582 6848

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective) monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 4 November 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Karibu Centre, 7 Gresham Road, London SW9 7PH

Next meeting: Wednesday 2 December 2009 – Venue: Karibu Centre, 7 Gresham Road, London SW9 7PH

ALL WOMEN WELCOME. Our group continues to meet, and welcomes new women of all ages and backgrounds. Meetings sometimes include talks by women who knew Olive Morris and come to share their memories of Olive but also their own histories. The meetings are also an opportunity to get updates, and to discuss future activities and help steer the direction of the project.

Click here to find out more about ROC – Remembering Olive Collective

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October

Launch of the Olive Morris Collection
Wednesday 21 October 2009, 7.00pm, Brixton Library
BOOKING ESSENTIAL: For information or to book tickets please contact Sonia McKenzie on 020 7926 1075 or email blackhistorymonth@lambeth.gov.uk

Do you remember Olive Morris?

After many months of research and interviewing those who knew Olive, the Remembering Olive Collective and Lambeth Archives are proud to be launching a public archive dedicated to Olive Morris and the different groups and campaigns she was part of. The collection includes Olive’s personal papers deposited by Liz Obi and over 20 oral history interviews. It will be permanently hosted at Lambeth Archives.

The event speakers include Jon Newman (Lambeth Archives), Yana Morris (Olive’s sister), Mike McColgan (Olive’s partner), a presentation about Olive’s life and the materials included in the Olive Morris Collection by Dr. Kimberly Springer (ROC member), and a performance by award-winning poet Dorothea Smartt.

The oral history and cataloguing project and the production of a publication that will be launched early in 2010, has been generously funded by an award from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project has been supported by Lambeth Archives and Gasworks. The project’s advisers and partners also include the Black Cultural Archives, Brixton Library, Lambeth Women’s Project and the British Library.

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective) monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 7 October 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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September

Radical Brixton: Following on Olive steps
Tuesday 15 September 2009, 5.30pm gathering outside Olive Morris House, 18 Brixton Hill
A memorial walk in Brixton led by ROC members Ego and Carolyn, visiting places that are associated with Olive Morris and the organisations she was part of. Here are some pictures of ROC members during a research / test walk back in July.

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 2 September 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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August

ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 5 August 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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July

Stall at Lambeth Country Show
Date: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 July 2009
Venue: Brockwell Park, Brixton
ROC will again be holding a stall at this popular local event this summer. Look out for us at Lambeth Arts & Culture Tent. We have some lovely merchandise you can buy to support our work, and you will be able to learn more about Olive Morris and the history of Brixton.

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Olive Morris Memorial Breakfast
Date: Sunday 12 July 2009, 12 midday start
Place: Juntion of Marcus Garvey Way and Railton Road

On the anniversary of Olive Morris death we will convene for breakfast in a public space at the heart of Brixton, the area formerly known as The Triangle or The Frontline, a space emblematic of the struggle and resistance of Brixon Black community. ROC members will set up a breakfast table to remember Olive, who lived most of her adult life just steps away, at 121 Railton Road and 2 Talma Road squats. This area is now part of a Dispersal Zone that actually extends to almost all of the town centre and enables police officers and Police Community Support Officers to disperse groups of two or more people, who might be perceived to be causing intimidation and committing anti-social behaviour.

The Olive Morris memorial breakfast borrows the model of the permanent breakfast, a open source project launched in 1996 in Austria and since then it has been appropriated and recreated all over the world, from Chile to Papua New Guinea, from Norway to Chechnia, as a way of reclaiming public space, and to bring people together for a variety of reasons: rememberance, activism or purely for the pleasure of sharing some time together in an open space without paying money for it. http://www.permanentbreakfast.org

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Presentation at Women Making History event
Date: Saturday 11 July 2009, 1.30 – 4.45pm
Venue: Museum in Docklands, No1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4AL
There is no entrance fee to the museum for conference participants

ROC will be making a presentation at this one day participatory conference led by London women from different communities and generations, looking at what women in London have lost and gained over the past 50 years and what we need to create momentum to change.

Other presenters and speakers include:

Golden Oldies – a group for elders of Caribbean origin. They’ve been meeting on the Walworth Road, South London for around 13 years.

Shravika Satsang Mandal from the Wembley area in North West London is a collective of Asian women of East African origin who meet weekly to practice yoga, reflexology, share food and spiritual and reflective literature together. It was founded by Vilasgauri Dhanani in 1973 whose aim has always been to use a holistic approach to life and health to empower Asian women.

Young women from the Sir John Cass Foundation & Red Coats School who have been meeting the Golden Oldies and Shravika Satsang Mandal, discussing and creating work together.

Dorothea Smartt is of Barbadian (aka Bajan) heritage. Dubbed ‘Brit-born Bajan international’ [Kamau Brathwaithe], she was Brixton Market’s first Poet-in-Residence, and a former Attached Live Artist at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. http://www.britbornbajan.com

The Women’s Library exists to document and explore women’s lives in Britain in the past, present and future, and houses the most extensive resource for women’s history in the UK.

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 1 July 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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June 2009

Presentation at Our History in Our Hands – Towards Digital Sustainability for Minority Cultural Archives
Date and Time: Friday 5 June 2009 – 1.00-5.30 pm
Venue: Museum in Docklands, No1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4AL

ROC was invited to present the ways in which the Do you remember Olive Morris project has used web 2.0 technologies (including this blog) to organise, and to document and make public the history of Olive Morris.

The presentation is part of a half-day workshop aimed at independent and community heritage practitioners has been organised as a joint initiative between the Community Archives research team at the Department of Information Studies at UCL and UntoldLondon.org.uk. Uniting researchers and heritage practitioners from culturally-diverse communities, it aims to map out “an emerging terrain” and prepare for a more inclusive future. Digital Preservation is a matter of real concern for independent minority archives at work in the UK today. Grounded in transnational diasporas, many groups have been quick to embrace the possibilities of user-generated content and digital collections. Equally, such groups often lack the infrastructure to ensure sustainability. The risk is a double marginalisation – a hidden history and a disappearing future.

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Presentation at Comic Relief – Staff Learning Week
Date and Time: Wednesday 3 June 2009 – 1.00-2.00 pm
Venue: Comic Relief Head Office, Lambeth

ROC gave an interactive workshop / presentation at Comic Relief, as part of their Staff Learning Week. They were tipped about our project by one of their volunteers, who recommended us as an interesting event to introduce staff to a bit of the socio-political history Lambeth history. In the pictures you can see Comic Relief employees busily charting Olive’s life during a time-line excercise.

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 3 June 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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May 2009

Fundraising event: Shouting for Olive
Date: Monday 25 May 2009, 4.00 pm – Tate Modern

A group of ROC members and supporters got together to take part in a performance by artist Paola Pivi, as part of Tate Modern’s Long Weekend. The performance involved 1000 people on the mezzanine bridge above the Turbine Hall screaming as loudly as possible, hence the title ‘1000′. The interesting addition of the people involved in the work that they come from groups such as Free Tibet and are screaming as a form of protest, and to raise funds for their organisations. We raised a whooping £240 – thanks to all who came along to help!

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Do you remember Olive Morris project receives grant from Heritage Lottery Fund

A generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will support a training programme in Oral History and Archiving, as part of the Do you remember Olive Morris?. The grant will benefit the members of ROC (Remembering Olive Collective) who will be conducting over 25 interviews with those who knew Olive Morris. The interviews will be deposited as part of a newly created archive collection at Lambeth Archives, centred on Olive Morris. The archive, whose core is formed by a collection of documents donated by Liz Obi, will be catalogued and complemented by ROC and subsequently be made available at Lambeth Archives for permanent public use.

The project is supported by Gasworks & Triangle Arts Trust and Lambeth Archives. The project’s advisers also include the Black Cultural Archives and Brixton Library.

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 6 May 2009 – 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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April 2009

ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Monday 30 March 2009 (PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR APRIL MEETING HAS BEEN MOVED TO AN EARLIER DATE) 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166 A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ

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24-26th April 2009 – RACE, PRIVILEGE, IDENTITY BRISTOL GATHERING

ROC members run a workshop on Olive Morris at the Race, privilege and identity gathering taking place in Bristol. The gathering aimed to engage with issues of race, privilege and identity in DIY feminist communities through building dialogue, coalitions and resources.

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March 2009

6 March: ROC Stall at Launch of International Women’s Month in Lambeth
Brixton Library, 6.30 to 9.00 pm

Olive Morris was also featured in an exhibition display prepared by Lambeth Archives and displayed at Brixton Library during March 2009.

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12 March: Nightcleaners Part I: A Woman’s Work – Film Screening and panel discussion
This event is part of Celebrating Women in Southwark, and starts with a public screening of Nightcleaners: Part 1, a rarely seen experimental film from 1972 by the Berwick Street Collective (Marc Karlin, Mary Kelly, James Scott and Humphry Trevelyan). Free but booking essential: southwarknights@gmail.com

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14 March: Women and the Archive – A partial disclosure
Members of ROC will be talking about the Do you remember Olive Morris project at this conference at The Women’s Library organised in collaboration with the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Women and the Archive: A Partial Disclosure presents four perspectives on the relationship between women and the archive in contemporary artistic production. Artists, collectives and researchers using archives as source material or constituting archives as their primary activity are invited to present their rarely shown collections of photographs, videos and audio recordings around women of artistic, social and political importance. Issues of provenance, methodology, property and historicisation will be addressed throughout the afternoon via
presentations, screenings, performances and a panel discussion.

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28 March: Black Women and the Radical Tradition Conference
ROC member Dr Kimberly Springer will be presenting a paper on Olive Morris at this conference held at the Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College. Other presenters include Angela Davis, Carole Boyce Davies.
For more information visit: http://www.blackwomen2009.org/

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Tuesday 3 March 2009 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH

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February 2009

Remembering Olive Collective stall at Gender, Race and Class conference.
Date and time: Saturday 14 February, 10am-6.30 pm
Venue: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
For an account of the day and ensuing debate visit: http://www.permanentrevolution.net/entry/2558

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ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 4 February 2009 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Black Cultural Archives (1 Othello Close, London, SE11 4RE)

Read the minutes from this meeting

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January 2009

ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 7 January 2009 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166A Stockwell Road
Next meeting: 4 February 2009

Read the minutes from this meeting

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December 2008

ROC (Remembering Olive Collective monthly meeting – ALL WOMEN WELCOME
Date and time: Wednesday 3 December 2008 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166A Stockwell Road

Read the minutes from this meeting

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November 2008

CREATION AND LIBERATION: BLACK PANTHERS IN BRIXTON

Linton Kwesi Johnson addressing the audience at the event

Emory Douglas – the key note speaker at the event – listens to Neil Kenlock presentation

Join us for a memorable evening in the heart of Brixton, to listen first hand to the stories of former Black Panthers from the US and the UK, and to view an exhibition of Black Panther’s original artwork and photographs.

Monday 3 November 2008, 7.00 pm
Karibu Education Centre (formerly the Abeng Centre)
7 Gresham Road
London SW9
Underground: Brixton Station

With special guests:

EMORY DOUGLAS – Former Minister of Culture of the Black Panthers Party; Black Panther/Black Liberation artist and designer of the Black Panther newspaper

BILLY X JENNINGS – Head of the US Black Panther Alumni

NEIL KENLOCK – Official photographer of the Brixton Black Panther Movement, and founder of Choice FM

ELAINE HOLNESS – Director of the Karibu Education Centre, originally founded as the Abeng Centre by the Rev. Tony Ottey in the 1970s to offer supplementary schooling and youth services to local children.

KODWO ESHUN – Writer and theorist, acclaimed author of More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction, and co-founder of The Otolith Group. Currently working on a photo essay about representation of Black Panthers in film.

CLARENCE THOMPSON – One of the founding fathers of the 1965 Race Relations Act and renowned dramatic poet.

The event will pay homage to the memory of Olive Morris, a Brixton-based Black Panther and women’s rights activist, who died tragically young leaving behind a remarkable legacy.

Tickets: £10 at the door / £ 7 advance sales / £ 5 under 18s
This event is a fundraiser for the Remembering Olive Collective and the Panther Alumni projects in the U.S. and the entry fee includes refreshments.

Direct sales and bookings

Black Cultural Archives – 0207 582 8516 (lines open 10am-6pm)
1 Othello Close, London SE11 4RE (Underground: Kennington)
Email: info@bcaheritage.org.uk

Direct sales only (office hours)

Gasworks – 020 7091 1636
155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH (Underground: Oval)

Lambeth Women’s Project – 07951 998 414
166A Stockwell Road, London SW9 9TQ (Underground: Brixton / Stockwell)

*N.B The seating at this event is limited. Please book in advance to avoid disappointment.

Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture in the Black Panther Party, is perhaps the person most responsible for conveying the politics of the Panthers into the mass consciousness of Black people in the USA and the oppressed across the world. Emory Douglas’ beautiful and striking art-work in the Panther’s newspaper conveyed the politics of the movement which embodied the humanity, defiance and revolutionary continuities of oppressed Black people in the US and their support for struggles across the world. Read his interview in Times Online and the Guardian online.

In the UK, Neil Kenlock took up the camera to document the life of the Black community during the 60s and the 70s, and the activities of his fellow Black Panthers. He amassed an extraordinary body of work that includes portraits of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Mohamed Ali, and other important Black leaders, and that has rarely been exhibited. This will be a unique opportunity to see Neil’s photographs and to hear him talk about his political and creative motivations.

Kodwo Eshun is an artist, theorist and writer. He is the author of More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction (Quartet, 1998) and editor of The Ghosts of Songs: The Film Art of The Black Audio Film Collective (2007). He is the co-founder of the artist collective The Otolith Group whose work was presented at Documenta 12 and can be currently be seen at the 7th Shanghai Biennale and Between the Images: Imaginable Experiences fro Future Memories at IASPIS, Stockholm. He is currently completing 2 books: Hat and Beard: A Photo Essay on the Cinematic Imaginary of the Black Panthers, to be published by Bookworks and a study of Dan Graham’s Rock My Religion to be published by AfterAll in their One Work series. Kodwo Eshun is Director of the MA in Aural and Visual Cultures in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College.

This event is organised by the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC), with support from the Black Panther Commemoration Committee in England (BPCC).

ROC is a Brixton-based group, made up of women of different ages and backgrounds, whose main aim is to create public and permanent memories of Olive Morris. Together we research and document the history of Olive Morris and her times, and we learn about each other and about women’s histories and why it is important that we keep them alive.

The BPCC work towards keeping the experience and legacy of the Black Panthers alive for current and future generation

For more information phone us or email us on the contact listed below.

Email: olivemorrishq@gmail.com
Tel: 07817 654 468

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October 2008

Olive Morris Group monthly meeting
Date and time: Wednesday 1 October 2008 6.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Lambeth Women’s Project, 166A Stockwell Road
Next meeting: 5 November 2008

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Stall at Black History Month in Southwark 2008 Launch
Date and times: Saturday October 4 2008, 2pm to 5.30pm
Venue: Damilola Taylor Centre, 1 East Surrey Grove, Peckham, London SE15 6DR

Do you remember Olive Morris? will be holding a stall at the launch of Black History Month in Southwark. In addition to the stalls, there will be performances by the Tribute Trust, Children of Zion and Exodus Dance Companies, Carl Campbell Dance Company 7, poet and singer Khadijatou Doyneh and a keynote presentation by one the UK’s leading historians; Steve Martin. Personal motivator and author, Kola Olutimehin, will give closing words. The day will end with the opportunity to network and enjoy mouth watering, homemade Caribbean cuisine.

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Poster project: Workshops for young women at South London Gallery
Dates: Sunday 12, Sunday 26, Tuesday 28 and Thursday 30 October
Times: 11.00 am to 1.00 pm
Venue: South London Gallery, 65 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH

Led by artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, a group of 15 young women aged 14-18 will research the history of inspiring Black women connected to South London’s history, such as Olive Morris, Una Marson and Sojourner Truth. Together they will create a series of posters to display in schools and community centres. The workshop consists of 5 sessions (2 hours each) and is free, but booking is essential.

For information and bookings please contact: Frances Williams, Education & Outreach Manager. Email: frances@southlondongallery.org, Tel: 020 7703 6120

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TINAG Festival – Panel discussion
Date and time: Saturday 25 Octobrer, 11.00 am -12.30 pm
Venue: Cafe Oto, 18 – 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston , London E8 3DL

A round-table discussion as part of the TINAG Festival (This is not a gateway) with presentations by women involved in the Do you remember Olive Morris project. Speakers: Liz Obi (community activist), Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre (artist), Kelly Foster (Black Cultural Archives), Anna Colin (curator Gasworks).

From 1-2.30 pm and following on from the Do you remember Olive Morris Salon, Mustafa Traore and young people from various social justice groups in France will introduce their work: Integration of the Muslim subculture in Britain at the dawn of the 21st century; from theory to practice, comparing the situation experienced by young migrants in France. Exploring challenges encountered when working for better social cohesion in the different districts and suburbs of Paris.

The TINAG festival seeks to promote and enable dialogue and collaboration amongst emerging practitioners working on and in cities, in interdisciplinary and bottom-up ways. For more information about TINAG FESTIVAL visit: www.thisisnotagateway.net

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News Update – 24 July 2008

The Volunteers Group will start to meet regularly at Lambeth’s Women Project (166A Stockwell Road), the first Wednesday of every month. The group is open to women of all ages who are passionate about black and women’s history and are willing and able to contribute to the project with either time, historical knowledge, great ideas or useful skills. Our first official meeting will be on Wednesday 6 August from 6.30 to 9.00 pm.

On Saturday 12 July we joined the Morris family on a memorial visit to Streatham Park Cemetery. We gathered to pay our respects to the memory of Olive Morris on the anniversary of her death. Family and friends paid tribute planting flowers, and with informal speeches, poetry readings and prayers. You can see some pictures at: www.rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com. If you were there and took some nice photos please email me some and I will upload them to the blog. Brixton artist Claudia Wegener did a sound recording of the visit and we will put it online soon for those who couldn’t join in the day.

The cemetery visit was also an opportunity to talk about the recent developments at Olive Morris House, which as you probably already know has been extensively refurbished. The building has retained Olive’s name but the public area has been re-branded as the Brixton Customer Service Centre. After some discussion on the pros and cons of having Olive’s name attached to the building, the Morris family volunteered to lead a petition to request that an informative memorial to Olive Morris is installed in a location visible to the general public. Yana Morris is in the process of creating the petition letter.

Liz Obi and myself (with the support of Gasworks, the Black Cultural Archives and Lambeth Arts) have been liaising with Lambeth Corporate Communications and the Customer Service Teams for the last 6 months. We have submitted several ideas and proposals to create a memorial to Olive Morris on the public area of the building (a reconstruction of Liz Obi’s exhibition, plus a bronze bust of Olive as a monument to youth). Unfortunately, we haven’t been successful in gaining enough interest in our proposals, so as to implement them at Olive Morris House. The main reasons were lack of funding, and council officers’ concerns about our proposed display clashing with corporate style guidelines. We are still keen to create this public art works and have them installed somewhere in Brixton. If you have any suggestions or useful contacts please get in touch.

Liz Obi and Ashley Whitfield (a new recruit to the Volunteers Group hailing from Detroit, USA) run a stall at the Lambeth Country Show on the 19-20 July, hosted by Lambeth Arts. Liz’s exhibition was on display, and our freshly-baked Olive Morris badges were on offer. Thanks to Kelly Foster at the Black Cultural Archives for the idea – we exchange the badges for a 50 pence donation towards printing more publicity materials (the project remains unfunded and is still running entirely on people’s voluntary contributions). If you want to help sell some badges, that’d be great.

Finally, with regards to the oral history project and the exhibition, we had some delays with a funding application to the Lottery Heritage Fund that will have to be re-submitted in September. This means the project will be extended over a longer period of time, and the final exhibition at Gasworks will take place in November 2009.

On a tip by Ceri Buck (a local artist and ongoing supporter of the project), The British Library has recently approached us with the offer to archive the Olive Morris weblog as part of a project they are doing with The Women’s Library. This will mean that the contents of the blog will be preserved permanently regardless of changes in technology. The blog will also be archived at Lambeth Archives website, so all together this means that the information on the blog is both safeguarded for the future and that it reaches a wider audience.

Keep an eye on the blog as we will start updating it regularly with news and more information as it becomes available, and hope to see some of you at the Volunteers Group first meeting on the 6th of August.

Warmest regards